Children of the Golden Path
by Arcadia Pendragon13
Summary: Leto did have children, and their mother is Sabiha.It's from Farad'n's point of view,but it's about Leto's children and one of Ghani's.
1. Default Chapter

Stilgar walked across the desert. Or at least what used to be the desert. Now it was turning green. Some parts of the desert remained, but it was pretty much almost gone. He looked back towards Sietch Tabr, back to where the Fremen were. Some of the Fremen remained as they used to be. But this place was changing, and Stilgar knew that. Leto's concubine Sabiha was pregnant. How she could be with the changes Leto's body was undergoing he didn't know. But she had explained it to Stilgar, saying it happened before Leto had even undergone the changes. But it defiled Stilgar's honor and his word. Now that Sabiha was to stay in Sietch Tabr. She was a Castout, a water stealer. Suddenly Ghanima came behind him.  
  
"We're all water stealers Stil," she said as if she'd heard what he'd been thinking.  
  
"How can you two stand walking such a long distance without breathing hard?" Farad'n asked, throwing himself up a grassy dune.  
  
"It's the Fremen way Farad'n," Ghanima said, laughing.  
  
"Or it used to be," Stilgar said, his face the same as he recalled Leto's words of Secher Nbiw. Or in other words the Golden Path.  
  
Stilgar moved on, to a patch of yellow desert, where a rock that was jutting out from the side of a sandy wall, as it looked. That place remained the same, but not for long.  
  
"Do you think he's mad that I said that?" Farad'n asked quietly.  
  
"I don't think. Come, you must see what Stil wishes to show us," Ghanima said.  
  
All the while Farad'n recorded this in his mind, for he was the Scribe, named Harq Al-Ada by Leto himself. Leto had ordered him to repeat all that was said here to him. But whether Farad'n would do it was not yet decided. Leto never showed any anger at Farad'n when he failed to record something that had happened. But Farad'n couldn't disobey Ghanima's trust or Stilgar's for the matter. Farad'n had made friends with Stilgar over the few months in which he'd been on Arrakis, which was no longer called Dune. Sometimes Farad'n wondered what Arrakis had looked like before he'd come here. But he would never live to see it, as Leto told him. Farad'n followed Ghanima down the grassy dune and he looked over the land. There was now a river forming somewhere close by, and the Leto had told him he was planning in turning the city of Arrakeen into a different city. But he hadn't explained what it would look like.  
  
Only a few worms remained, maybe close to one hundred or so. And now when Farad'n looked at this place and when Stilgar described it to him, he realized how much this place had changed. But for whose benefit he wasn't sure of. Some people referred to Leto as selfish. But how could he be when he was trying to save them all? At least that's what Farad'n thought, and Leto trusted him because of it. Because Farad'n understood his part in this Secher Nbiw. Farad'n nodded his head as he realized Stilgar was further ahead than them, and Ghani was almost close behind Stilgar. So he followed, like the good Scribe he was. 


	2. Someone New

Sabiha stood on the small landing jutting out from Sietch Tabr overlooking the now green world. Her right hand was under her large stomach. She had still had her blondish brown hair. Her face was round and she was not all that tall. Leto had said he would come here . . . soon. She wasn't sure if she loved him. There was love but maybe it was love for the Emperor, for the God Emperor. And she was bearing his heir. She had not found a Fremen doctor who would somehow tell her what it was. Leto had insisted it was a girl, so Sabiha believed him. None of the Fremen wanted her here because she was a Castout. But she ruled these Fremen! Not Stilgar, not Leto's sister who was married to Leto, not anyone. Sabiha was Leto's concubine, his supposed lover, so she ruled them.  
  
"My lady, Leto-the God Emperor has sent a message to you," a young woman who Sabiha knew was the same age as Leto said from behind her.  
  
"Give it to me," Sabiha said, all haughty.  
  
"He says he cannot come soon as he said, but rather he will see you in two weeks," the young woman, Elishin Malif said. Elishin didn't like her attitude.  
  
"Tell me, you and my Leto are friends are you not?" Sabiha asked her.  
  
"Since we were little. He used to be my Leto. Now he is my best friend Leto," Elishin told her, and a sliver of sunlight fell upon her face but she did not flinch from the brightness. She faced her enemy.  
  
"Tell me about Duncan Idaho. The ghola has arrived yes?"  
  
"Yes, he has. We were friends also. Although he is older then I. He taught me every battle technique, every attack position that I know," Elishin said, recalling old times.  
  
"You may leave," Sabiha told Elishin, waving her hand.  
  
Elishin was just about to retort and say that no one told her to leave or stay. But then she remembered Sabiha was bearing Leto's children. But not for long. If it wasn't for the two children Elishin had seen in a vision inside Sabiha, Elishin would've had her water sooner. Elishin smiled, bowed her head and left. It wasn't as if Sabiha planned to stick around after the children were born.  
  
Jessica, grandmother to the God Emperor, sat in silence within the Council of Naibs.  
  
"It cannot be denied any longer. The Fremen are dying, as is the desert. The question remains whether we should give Leto our allegiance . . . or band against him," one of the Naibs said, placing his hands on the tabletop.  
  
"You think you can defeat him?" a low female voice, Elishin Malif, who had arrived minutes earlier, said from a dark corner.  
  
"We can, add we will if he continues to change the desert!" the saem Naib, Gorin said.  
  
"You cannot defeat him! I cannot sit here and explain this Secher Nbiw to you any longer!" Elishin yelled.  
  
Whispers of the Golden Path went through the room.  
  
"All I know is that I see things. It's as if I'm connected to the Golden path," Elishin continued.  
  
Across the room Jessica signaled in Bene Gesserit, her hands and fingers moving frantically. 'Speak no more' is what her fingers said. Elishin nodded and sat back down in her chair. The other Naibs looked to each other, wondering how she knew what Jessica was signaling.  
  
"My granddaughter will see to it that Leto makes no decision that is drastic," Jessica said, standing and walking around the small room.  
  
"Not even she will stop him," a very familiar voice said from outside the door. Elishin knew that voice, but she couldn't place it. Then the man stepped into the doorway and from behind him she could see a green plant. The man had black hair, and grayish eyes. That was because he was a ghola. Duncan Idaho. Duncan looked at his brown haired, blue eyes friend Elishin. Her body was elegant and strong. Only he didn't know they were friends, that he had taught her everything that had to do but passed it off as just someone he'd seen before. Elishin stood up, thinking he would come over and say hello to her but instead he stayed where he was.  
  
"You don't belong here ghola!" Gorin yelled at him.  
  
"I belong here, as do you. We all want the same things. Join with me and together we will bring him down!" Duncan said calmly.  
  
"Duncan!" Jessica yelled her voice stern.  
  
"I see your face lade, and I know it, but I know not your name," Duncan continued, walking over to Elishin.  
  
"It's Elishin Malif."  
  
Duncan nodded, and moved on still trying to get the Council to band against Leto. It didn't work because the Naibs didn't want him leading them. After the Council was ended a man came and told her Leto wanted to see her. So Elishin headed for a 'thopter, Jessica watching her the whole time. 


	3. Plans Revealed & Learning

Even as Stilgar stepped onto the big patch of sand, he still felt this was no longer his home. The place where Stilgar was taking Ghani and Farad'n to was the Attendant. Ghanima hadn't been there in a couple of months and it would be good for Farad'n to see the grandfather's skull of Leto I.  
  
"Have you ever ridden a worm?" Stil heard Farad'n ask Ghani.  
  
"Oh many times! I could show you, although it might be a while before a worm comes," Ghani said, laughing.  
  
"Why do you laugh at my curiosity?" Farad'n asked frowning and knitting his eyebrows together.  
  
"Maybe because you're so eager to learn. I've never met anyone like you."  
  
No! Stilgar would not let Leto's damn vision come to pass about Ghanima and Farad'n!  
  
"We must hurry and get to the Attendant," Stilgar told them. They nodded and quickened their pace to match his.  
  
In the Keep Irulan bowed to her stepson. The sand trout skin was spreading very fast over him. His face was not covered yet, only, one spot where it was starting to spread up his face. But you could still see his handsome Atreides features. He had that hawkish face common among the Atreides. His eyes were blue-within-blue and he walked with a grace that startled Irulan. Leto always said he was not the one who changed, but humanity was the one who was changing. Irulan herself hadn't changed since Leto became Emperor. Her hair was still cut short even after almost nine months since Leto became Emperor. She stood before Leto, her pride held fast.  
  
"Please stepmother there is no need to bow," Leto said, laughing.  
  
"Because everyone else bows to you right?" Irulan asked him.  
  
"I'll be alone in the end anyways," Leto told her, walking towards one of the windows.  
  
"Only because you push them away."  
  
"My life is . . . difficult to understand. Yet I see it through the Golden Path."  
  
"I want to feel sorry for you."  
  
"Don't stepmother; it will only bring you sadness." Irulan nodded and once more she was back to putting up her shield which was usually there.  
  
"Do you need me to do anything?" Irulan asked him.  
  
"Not at the moment. Ave you kept an eye on Duncan? Has he met Elishin yet?" Leto asked her, facing towards her.  
  
"he has met her. But I won't be watching him anymore Leto. I will not spy on him any longer," Irulan said, storming past the guards and out the door.  
  
"Hmm . . . that is interesting. I may have to breed Elishin with Duncan . . . or Irulan with Duncan," Leto said to himself. A very tough decision. Everything concerning Sabiha would follow the way he'd seen it, without him even having to push it along.  
  
Stilgar, Ghani, and Farad'n arrived at the Attendant. Stil's thoughts were still in turmoil at why Leto had wanted him to bring Ghani and Farad'n here.  
  
"Will this place always remain here?" Farad'n asked Stil as they went inside the rocks.  
  
"No, but the memory of the place will stay wit people I hope," Stilgar told him.  
  
"Why are we here? Is this place important?" Farad'n kept asking.  
  
There, that one question Stilgar had been anticipating.  
  
"It's not important."  
  
Farad'n kept quiet for the rest of the time. Ghani directed them to a sort of cave, but she explained that when the Laza tigers had attacked her and Leto they had tried to hide in the place to get away. Ghani looked around it. It wasn't big and memories came rushing back to her.  
  
"We'll stay here then. In the morning . . . we'll make our journey back to Sietch Tabr," Stil said to them, keeping his pack on his back and then heading back out. Where he went was facing Sietch Tabr, where the desert ended and the green grass began. There Stilgar sat, right on the line where they intersected. Things with Ghani and Farad'n would play out the way Leto wanted them. Though Stil didn't wish it to but he couldn't argue wit Leto about it, especially since Leto expected this breeding program to last until he died. It just so happened that Ghanima and Farad'n were a part of that breeding program . . . .  
  
Duncan, alone in his despair, felt cool water run across his body, down onto his clothes. What was this . . . this water that falls from the sky? What was it called? Ah yes, rain. Duncan's despair came back as he knew he was not whole. He was a ghola, therefore he knew [i]someone[/i] had to be before him! But the memories, the joys, the sadness, none of it was in his reach. It was as if a shield had been put up around those memories and he'd lost the controls to turn off the shield. What was he then? Could he ever be called human since those memories were gone?  
  
The answer is yes, a voice seemed to say in his head. That voice . . . it sounded familiar. A female voice that sounded like he'd heard it in his first life as Duncan, his second and now this life as Duncan Idaho. But who was it?  
  
"The rain is beautiful. I know that's not a Fremen thought but it's going to be staying," Elishin said from behind him.  
  
Duncan didn't move, although with his training he would've been on his feet instantly. He knew she wouldn't harm him. He didn't know how he knew that though. But he'd thought she had gone to a meeting with Leto.  
  
"I suppose it is. You know this Sabiha . . . I sense something about her,: Duncan said, looking down at the grass.  
  
"Yes, she is different. I plan to kill her you know. The baby is due in a week and if she dares to even think of leaving the children I'll take her water," Elishin said, her jaw set and her voice telling no mercy.  
  
"Children?"  
  
"She's carrying twins, like Ghanima and Leto. She doesn't know it yet. But I've seen it," Elishin said.  
  
They continued to talk and Elishin told him everything he would've already known if he hadn't been killed. Their friendship was set in motion again . . . the wheel was forever spinning . . . only to be stopped again. . . .  
  
Afterwards, Elishin took a thopter to Arrakeen to meet Leto. She would be late but he could forgive her. So minutes later when she arrived at Arrakeen she sighed and motioned her guards to stay behind some ways. She pulled her hood up more around her face. The she set out, weaving and dodging other people. She recalled Muad'dib doing the same one day on his walks through the city. Only now, Muad'dib was dead. The memories were inside of her, yet she couldn't place why. She had no Atreides genes at all that she knew of. No one in her family was Atreides. Unless years back, decades back an Atreides; maybe Duke Leto Atreides, or Paulus Atreides, had had a secret affair with one of her ancestors. She would have to try to go back in her memories and see just how far back she remembered. But first . . . she would have to face Leto. And she was ready.  
  
She walked through the Keep, her eyes watching everything. Leto no longer allowed priests to roam these halls except for some of them. When she stood in front of the door, it opened and revealed the room of Muad'dib and Chani. Leto stood in the middle of the room. The room looked the same as when Muad'dib had been in the room. Leto's face was not totally covered but his body was almost consumed by the sandtrout. That face she remembered. The sandtrout had almost gotten to his feet. Leto turned around slowly. He stood there staring at her for a few moments as if he was remembering something from when they were children.  
  
"You summoned me here," Elishin said, and her voice was hardened as if talking to someone she hated.  
  
"You're late, as I expected. Did you comfort Duncan then? And taken care of your other business in your mind what with remembering things?" Leto asked her.  
  
"Why not just call Duncan business? But then you're the only one who profits from him aren't you?" Elishin asked him, crossing the floor to him in five strides," And he's a link to your past. He's a living link you can toy with for amusement. You think you can just kill him when we're getting to be friend again and then bring him back? Do you know what it's like to see someone die only to have them back like nothing happened? He's your link to all those memories, he remembers Paul, he remembers the Harkonnens," Elishin went on not stopping.  
  
Leto only smiled at her. Then he grabbed her wrist with those hands that were almost consumed by the sandtrout and said," You've finally gotten it. But the reason why I've always killed the Duncans is because I've been trying to delay what must happen."  
  
"And what must happen that you need to delay?" Elishin asked, but she didn't draw her hand back.  
  
"If I tell you, you must do it, for the sake of the Atreides and the heirs of Duncan. If you don't I will find someone else," Leto said, and then when seeing Elishin nod, he went on," You are to breed with Duncan. After the child is born you will kill Sabiha."  
  
Elishin pulled back from his grip and stared at him wide-eyes. "I was going to kill her anyways. But I will not . . . breed with Duncan Leto! Find someone else I don't care! You plot and you scheme but all you do is lose people! Tell me have you lost Ghani yet?" Elishin exploded, waving her arms.  
  
"No, and I won't. She won't find what I've planned. And I've planned for her to breed with Farad'N to keep the Atreides line going. She would have probably completed my plan last night. She will be on her way back to Sietch Tabr now" Leto whispered.  
  
Elishin just stared at him. Then she gave up, what use was there trying to fight him?  
  
"Am I Atreides Leto?" she asked him silently.  
  
Leto lifted his eyes to look at her. "I've been wondering you'd ask that. The answer is yes. Paulus Atreides, once before he was married. Right before he was married actually, he had an affair with another. She would've been your great-grandmother I believe. She had a child, your grandfather, and then your mother and her brother, then you. You descend from Atreides," Leto explained to her.  
  
Elishin nodded, and then she looked at her old friend. She really looked at him. "I should go if you wish of me to fulfill your plan," she said, and smiled at him. Then she departed, carrying regret and sadness with her. 


	4. The Birth and the Death

The next day Elishin awoke from her bed. She had stayed in the Keep and enjoyed Leto's hospitality. Attendants came and went, always leaving her simple reminders of her childhood. She'd stayed in the Keep thanks to Alia, whom she'd called Aunt Alia since Leto and Ghanima had. But as she had gotten older Alia seemed to no longer care as she fell into Abomination. Her own mother had been killed years after she was born. Now everything, and everyone, was changing. Then the messenger had come, telling her that Sabiha was in labor. So it begins, or in Sabiha's case, it was the end.  
  
Leto had arrived at Sietch Tabr hours earlier, expecting the birth before it happened. He knew Elishin would wait until Sabiha was well enough to stand, and Sabiha would push herself to stand. The pain would hurt, and Leto had memories of giving birth. Now he awaited his child's birth. Ghanima and Farad'n were here also, having arrived very early in the morning. Elishin would arrive soon as he'd told the messenger not to disturb her until later in the morning. Leto stood outside of the room Sabiha was in. The Duncan stood behind him, silent but watching him and how he was reacting to the birth. Leto showed no emotion, but inside he was slightly curious about how this child's life would be like. If the child died it would be Leto's only heir even after thousands of years.  
  
"You are inspecting me for human emotions," Leto stated, just to break the silence.  
  
"One must decide whether one cares about something that is important but not," Duncan said, which made Leto slightly angry.  
  
"Do you know how great this child will be? He will be my only heir," Leto said, whirling around.  
  
"Leto, I got here as soon as I could," Elishin said, rounding a corner and out of breath.  
  
"Do you even care? Do you even love Sabiha or any of your people as your grandfather did?" Duncan said back, ignoring Elishin.  
  
"Duncan, it's okay. Leto, go in and see Sabiha," Elishin told them both, walking up to them now.  
  
As Leto left he gave Elishin a secret smile, and Elishin nodded. Elishin led Duncan off, to do as Leto had told her yesterday. When Elishin and Duncan reached a room Elishin pushed him inside, and then sealed the door shut. The woman inside would do her job. After all the woman was a Bene Gesserit. So Elishin was really disobeying the Emperor. But she would not bow down to Leto like that. So Elishin went outside onto a ledge overlooking the desert, or the green desert. Ghanima was there, and Elishin saw a tear fall from Ghani's eye.  
  
"Ghanima, what is wrong?" Elishin asked her quietly, sitting beside her.  
  
"I have planned something with Duncan. When you go to kill Sabiha, we will guard you and make sure none stop you," Ghanima said, her blonde hair suddenly blowing around her from a gust of wind," It will rain soon."  
  
"Duncan told you didn't he? But that is not all that is bothering you," Elishin stated, feeling the moisture in the air.  
  
"No it's not all that's bothering me," Ghani said, and she faced Elishin," I think I'm pregnant. It's only been a day since Farad'n and me . . .," Ghani trailed off.  
  
"If you are then you should be happy, not sad," Elishin told her and smiled  
at her.  
  
Ghanima smiled and nodded, throwing her arms around her old friend. The time would be soon to take that step in eliminating an old enemy.  
  
In many more hours, about nightfall, the children were born. Leto moved forward to them as if he'd known about the children being more than one child. They were a boy and a girl.  
  
"Let's name them Vorianist and Kituna Atreides. Is Sabiha well?" Leto asked the attendant who had a round face and freckles on her nose.  
  
"She is well. She is healthy also for just giving birth. I suspect she will recover soon, maybe the day after tomorrow," the attendant said, waving to let him know where Sabiha was.  
  
Leto stepped out, to get Duncan and Elishin.  
  
Elishin then walked down the hall with Ghani and Duncan. Duncan had done exactly what Elishin thought, and the woman too. She'd seduced him. Elishin entered the room, asking the attendant if she could see Sabiha. She said yes so Elishin entered the curtains. Ghani and Duncan had stayed outside, guarding the doorway. Sabiha looked over at her as she entered; her hair was greasy with sweat.  
  
"So you've come then? I didn't think you were ever going to come and see the children," Sabiha told her, smiling slightly.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Elishin asked her voice low as she moved forward.  
  
"Well enough to fight you. You know I realized something. Stilgar has you on a leash, and you can see nothing beyond your own collar around your neck. It is best if I call you a water stealer. You stole the blood of my people," Sabiha said, nonchalantly.  
  
"Don't insult me Sabiha. All you're doing is trying to make me kill you quicker," Elishin said, closing her eyes against the urge to kill her here and now.  
  
"Do it. It will save me from the misery of raising those children," Sabiha said.  
  
Elishin drew her crysknife and then realized her mistake. A crysknife could never be sheathed without drawing blood. Sabiha smiled at it almost welcomingly. Elishin shook her head and stepped back a few paces.  
  
"Give it to me!" Sabiha yelled, and grabbed onto Elishin's clothing and pulled her towards her. Elishin lost her balance and tripped. Sabiha wrestled the crysknife from her grasp and turned the blade toward herself. And then before Elishin's hand was halfway there Sabiha had driven the crysknife into her heart. Elishin could almost hear the last beatings of Sabiha's heart.  
  
"Take care of them! Treat them as . . . you would treat . . . your children if you had any," Sabiha whispered, and then died.  
  
Elishin stared at the lifeless body of the woman she'd intended to kill. But Sabiha's sudden welcome of death had changed Elishin's mind. Now Sabiha wanted her to take care of her children.  
  
"I promise you Sabiha, my so-called enemy that I will care for your children. I'll tell them good things about you too," Elishin whispered to Sabiha.  
  
Then Elishin turned around and looked at the children. They had a full head of hair, and their blue-within-blue eyes seemed to shine brighter than anything. Elishin stroked their cheeks. Ghanima entered then, looking at Sabiha's body and then Elishin.  
  
"She killed herself," Elishin said to Ghanima and the now entering Duncan and Leto.  
  
"My vision has come true. All of it. Duncan, you were to breed with Elishin. Only you weren't really. I only told Elishin that so she would do exactly the opposite," Leto said.  
  
"You planned for me to . . . I am not your stud Leto! You cannot throw me at whomever you wish!" Duncan yelled, and he charged at Leto his rage obvious by his red face.  
  
Instead of simply dodging Duncan, Leto dodged grabbed ahold of Duncan's head and twisted, and Duncan fell to the ground his neck broken. Elishin looked at Duncan then and a tear came forth from her eyes. A tear for the dead. A tear for the man who would live as many men. It was still the beginning, and not even to the middle. Life would go on though, and it would end as Duncan's life had just ended minutes earlier. 


End file.
